Saturday, January 20, 2007

An apple a day .... = detention

Parents have slammed a headmaster after a pupil got a detention for eating an APPLE in the wrong place. Tom Bosley, 16, was nearly expelled over the incident.

His father Andy called discipline imposed by head Chris Richardson “ludicrous”.

But Mr Richardson said Tom had been punished for eating the apple outside a designated area, which he said was a breach of health and safety regulations. He said: “All students are aware of this rule and the consequences of not adhering to it.”

Tom was given a 30-minute detention in the next lunch hour.

But students only find they are in detention if they check a noticeboard at Kings of Wessex Community School in Cheddar, Somerset, and Tom — who is predicted to get 11 A-grade GCSEs — didn’t realise he had been punished.So he got an after-school detention but refused to go in protest — and was ordered to spend a day in a “supervised learning unit”.

Tom was warned he would be expelled if he didn’t attend. He said: “The punishments are way too harsh. It just shows the abuse of power within the school. You can’t argue with them.”

Dad Andy said: “All the parents are upset. We’ve tried to complain to the school, but they never respond. I’m all for punishing troublemakers but Tom is a sensible lad — the punishments just don’t seem to fit the crime.”

Pupils at the school say they are monitored by CCTV and handed harsh punishments for minor breaches of school rules. Detentions have been imposed for undoing top shirt buttons, removing blazers in hot weather or wearing the wrong shade of black trousers.

One boy got a detention for not bringing a muffin to a cookery class, while a girl was given a similar punishment for sucking a MINT in the playground.

But Mr Richardson, whose school is one of the top ones in Somerset and has recently been given foundation status, stands by his zero-tolerance approach. A Campaign for Real Education spokesman said: “All good schools have strict discipline, but the punishment should fit the crime.”